Clothespin



M. O. NELSEN Dec. 5, 1950 CLOTHESPIN Filed Oct. 21, 1946 FIG. 5

INVENTOR MAGNUS 0. NELSEN ATTORN EYS Patented Dec. 5, 1950 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

CLOTHESPIN Magnus 0. Nelsen, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application October 21, 1946, Serial No. 704,575

2 Claims.

This invention relates to clothes pins.

The common types of clothes pins on the market have severaldisadvantages. The spring type having a pair of legs with a springtherebetween urging the lower parts of the legs together is subject torusting and thus often breaks or soils the clothes. It also comes apartquite easily in ordidiary use. This type also becomes frozen in verycold weather, making it difficult to remove from the line withouttwisting it or moving it angularly in the plane of the clothes line.This movement, however, usually results in the device coming apart.

The wooden type of clothes pin embodying a single bifurcated piece ofwood which wedges over the clothes and the line, comes loose in thewind. This type of pin also freezes to the line and often breaks if itis twisted to free it. In addition, the legs of these pins tend tospread when they are wet.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a new and improvedclothes pin which does not have the above noted disadvantages.

It is also anobject of the invention to provide a pin which tends toclamp the clothes and line rather than wedge the same, as is the casewith the ordinary bifurcated pin.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a wooden pin whichtends to close up tighter when it becomes wet.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a clothes pin whichmay be easily opened manually for initially pinning the clothes to theline or later for removing the pins from the line. In this connection itis an object to provide a clothes pin which can be safely used forpinning silks and other fine fabrics.

It is a still further object to provide a clothes pin which, should itbecome frozen to the line and the clothes in cold weather, may bereadily broken free without damage to the pin.

These and other objects will be apparent from the drawing and followingdescription thereof. Referring to the drawing, which is for illustrativepurposes only:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a clothes embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the clothes pin of Fig. 1, partly brokenaway;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view, partly in section, of thewedge member and. portion of the stem;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of another form. of clothes pin embodyingthe invention: and

Fig. 6 is a section on line 5 of Fig. 5,

Referring to Figs. 1-4, reference numeral 19 generally indicates thebody of the clothes: pin, which has a relatively fiat-sided head ll fromwhich depends a pair of legs l2. The body of the pin may be made of anysuitable material, such as a. hard Wood, or of a so-called plasticmaterial having a certain degree of spring quality.

The legs I2 are relatively wide with relatively flat inner and outersurfaces and may be defined as being inwardly bowed. At their lower endsthe legs have opposing inner surfaces M which are substantially paralleland straight and normally only slightly spaced apart. These surfaces areeach interrupted by a groove Hi, the groove in one surface beingopposite the groove in" the other.

It is to be noted that the head is slotted at l6l6, thereby providing adepending portion I! on the head between the legs. With thisconstruction greater flexibility is obtained in the legs, while at thesame time a long bearing area is provided in the head for the stem I8,now to be described.

The head is provided with a bore 29 extending on the longitudinal axisof the pin. The bore is adapted to slidably receive the stem l8heretofore mentioned which carries a manually operable button 2| at itsouter end. The stem carries a wedge 22 at its lower end. This wedgemaybe formed on the stem in any suitable manner. However, in the form ofthe invention illustrated (Fig. 4), the wedge is shown as being providedwith a tapped hole 23 into which is screwed the lower threaded end 24 ofthe stem l8. Preferably the wedge is substantially frusto-conical.except that the sides 25 thereof are slightly convex in order to provideonly limited contact or bearing between the wedge and the inner surfacesof the legs l2 of the pin.

With the construction outlined, in order to spread or expand the legs ofthe pin to initially pin clothes 21 to a line indicated at 2B or toremove the pin, the button 2! at the outer end of the stem is depressedor pressed toward the body of the pin, thereby causing inward movementof the stem and the wedge 22 which bears against the inner sides of thelegs l2 effectively spreads them sufliciently to accommodate the clothesand the line. In this connection the button. 2! limits inward movementof the wedge and prevents the legs being spread apart too far. Whenpressure on the button is removed, the curved surfaces of the legs,together with the slightly convex surface on the wedge and the inherentspring quality of the legs, causes the wedge to return to its normalposition adjacent the portion I! of the head and the legs to return totheir normal position except as this may be prevented by the line 28 andclothes 21. In this connection, the legs serve to clamp the line andclothes, receiving them in the grooves l5.

In Fig. 5 there is shown a simplified form of the invention which doesnot have means for spreading the legs of the pin. In this form of theinvention the pin 30 comprises a head 3| from which extends a pair ofinwardly bowed legs 32 which are Similar in curvature and shape to thelegs of the pin shown in Figs. l- 4'. The

head has an outer rounded surface 33 and an" inner curved surface 34.The legs are tapered or flared outwardly in the region 35., Inward 1ythereof are relatively flat faces 36 which are interrupted by thegrooves 31;

With this construction the pin may be easily slipped onto theclothesline over the clothes and the line by pushing it against thesame,the flared surfaces 35 acting as cam surfaces tofs'pread the ,/'end insaid space whereby, upon inward move -fl of other material, such asplastic, the material should be such as to permit of its being sprung.Without breaking. 7

It is to be noted that in Figs. l-and'2 the legs are shown with flatsides. This is a preferable construction if the pin is made of wood. InFig. 5 the legs of the pin'are" shown as rounded or convex throughoutthe major portionof "their length, as indicated at38. This constructionis preferable if the pin is to be made of a so-called plastic since itprovides a stronger pin. It is to be understood, however, that either aflat or a rounded leg may be employed with either form of theinvention'illustrated.

Although the invention has been particularl shown and described, it iscontemplated that various changes and modifications can be-made withoutdeparting from the scope of the'inven file, of: this patent:

legs extending a substantial distance therefrom, said head and legsbeing formed to define a wedge-shaped space between the legs adjacentthe head, said legs being normally positioned closely together beyondsaid Wedge-shaped space for gripping engagement with a clothes line andan article to be attached thereto, and a stem slidably mounted in thehead and extending into said space in the same general direction as saidlegs, said stem having a wedge at its inner end in said space whereby,upon inward movement of said stem, said wedge effectively spreads saidlegs, said stem projecting outwardly beyond said head for manualengagement.

2. A clothes pin comprising a body having a head and a pair ofconverging, inherently resilient legs extending therefrom, said headhaving a portion-extending between the legs and separated therefrom byslits, said legs defining a wedgeshaped spacebeyond the head and beingnormally positioned closely together beyond said space-for grippingengagement with a clothes line and an article to be attached thereto,and a stemslidably mounted in the head and extending intosaid space inthe same general direction as said legs, said stern having a wedge atits inner ment of said stem, said wedge efiectively spreads saidlegs,rsaid stemprojecting outwardly beyond said head formanualiengagement.

'MAGNUS O. NELSEN;

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the UNITEDSTATES PA'I'ENTS Number Name Date 687,129 Davison NOV. 19, 1901 401,330,646 Moyer 1 i Feb.- 10, 1920 *7 1,434,237 Warnock Oct; 31, 19221,899,982 Olson are Mar. 7, 1933 2,162,045 VVinkler I June 13, 1939FOREIGN PATENTS 5 Number Country Dat'e 14,778 Great Britain of- 190918285 Great Britain of 1897 Germany Dec. 19, 1906

